No matter what it is that I am facing in life - stress at work, frustration with the family, misguided efforts, lack of a love life, struggles with my work-out, lack of direction, loss of cable on Thursday night, etc. etc - everyone around me has been giving me this advice, in varying degrees - just be patient.
Patience, according to everyone in my life, is the single characteristic that can make me happier. Not that I am unhappy ... lets say - make me less frustrated. Either way, the advice comes in many forms ... "you will just have to be patient", "patience is key", "only time will tell", "good things come to those who wait", "just chill out" ... and every other lame way of saying - deal with it. In a world of instant gratification - characterized by high speed internet, fast food, overnight-next day air, credit cards on key chains (i just got one in the mail - not sure how I feel about it), instant oatmeal, one-hour photo, ready to bake cookies, pod casting, four hour season finales, and more ... HOW AM I SUPPOSE TO BE PATIENT?? The world around me is constantly contradicting my efforts!
(Breathe ... just breathe) … but that is the world talking to me – right?! Many of you may know that I am a religious person … so what does the “good book” tell me regarding patience (because in all honesty, I need some divine guidance in my life right about now). The online version of the topical guide (as the name suggests it is a guide to topics that cross references all scripture - the Bible (both Old and New Testement), The Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine and Covenants) lists the following:
"Patience, Patient, Patiently"
See also Affliction; Forebearance
(insert a gulp and another deep breath) but of course it also offers a variety of enlightening and uplifting scriptures that address patience. Two personal favorites - Hebrews 6:12 - "followers . . . through faith and patience inherit the promises" and James 1: 3 - "trying of your faith worketh patience".
So this gives me some comfort. Patience is not something I should expect the media, or gadgets and gizmos of the world to teach me or even support me in my effort to gain more patience. Patience comes from something beyond for something beyond. Of course Elder Neal A. Maxwell (more bio info on him) always says it best -
"Patience is not indifference. Actually, it is caring very much, but being willing, nevertheless, to submit both to the Lord and to what the scriptures call the “process of time.”
"There is also a dimension of patience which links it to a special reverence for life. Patience is a willingness, in a sense, to watch the unfolding purposes of God with a sense of wonder and awe—rather than pacing up and down within the cell of our circumstance."
"Too much anxious opening of the oven door and the cake falls instead of rising! So it is with us. If we are always selfishly taking our temperature to see if we are happy, we won’t be. When we are impatient, we are neither reverential nor reflective because we are too self-centered. Whereas faith and patience are companions, so are selfishness and impatience." (click here to read in all of its brilliance).
And so all those reminding me that "patience is a virtue" that I obviously don't have ... I know! And I am working on it! But thanks for the reminder ... and thanks for listening to me complain. Everyday gets better.
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2 comments:
I highly value patience, and get upset at myself when the metro "makes" me so impatient. I'm afraid I'm becoming one of those pushy people who get annoyed at the tourists, and snap at the people who don't stand to the right.
There are definitely things in our lives (like said metro) that we should relax about and let go. But sometimes I think impatience is underrated (especially for women). Maybe those impatient urges are not really a character flaw, but rather a call to take action. Is it always good to let things slide by, or should we get up and make the things happen that we're impatient about? I'm not saying it's easy, I'm not saying I always follow my own advice. But it's been more than once when I've said, I want that and I'm not going to wait for it to come to me.
I agree with Lis in that patience is often expected of women, at times when it would not be expected of men. But having said that, I do think you have way more patience than you give yourself credit for...especially in the office.
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